He is right at the door

Matthew 24:29-51 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

“But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. ³⁰ And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. ³¹ And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other. ³² “Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near; ³³ so, you too, when you see all these things, recognize that                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        He is near, right at the door. ³⁴ Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. ³⁵ Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.

³⁶ “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. ³⁷ For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. ³⁸ For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, ³⁹ and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. ⁴⁰ Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. ⁴¹ Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left.

⁴² “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. ⁴³ But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. ⁴⁴ For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.

⁴⁵ “Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time? ⁴⁶ Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. ⁴⁷ Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. ⁴⁸ But if that evil slave says in his heart, ‘My master is not coming for a long time,’ ⁴⁹ and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards; ⁵⁰ the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know, ⁵¹ and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

In Revelation 3:19-22 the Lord says:  “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”   There are many today who want to remove discipline from most elements of our culture and society. Particularly when it comes to children, they want to reward participation and expected behavior rather than disciplining unacceptable behavior. The Lord reproves and disciplines those He loves. It breaks a God ordained principle when there is no discipline for what is wrong, and only equal reward for everyone. When there are no consequences for inappropriate or unacceptable behavior, we create a culture and society that has no boundaries. We eliminate right and wrong, allowing each person to establish their own boundaries. The result is not a culture of love, but rather one of anarchy.

Jesus says:    “I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.”   In today’s text He says:   “Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near; so, you too, when you see all these things, recognize that                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            He is near, right at the door.”    Jesus is speaking of His glorious return, when He comes for the elect, those who have overcome the false teaching of the world and open to the true love of God.  Jesus says:    “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.”     What Jesus is saying is that before He returns life will be going on as usual, people will be doing all the things they normally do; so that,  “there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left.”

In the same way that we cannot know the day or the hour of Jesus glorious return, neither do we know the day or the hour when we or others will stand before God. Jesus says:  “For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.”     2 Peter 3:9 says:  The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.       This is true of the time of Jesus glorious return and it is also true of His individual patience with people. It is why He stands at the door and knocks. No one knows the day or the hour when any one of us will see the last of our days on earth. God is patient and does not want anyone to perish, but for all to come to repentance, to know His love which comes both through patience and discipline. God wants us to know His boundaries. He says: Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! (Isaiah 5:20)   It will be for some that God’s patience will extend to their very last moments. In Luke 23:39-43, when Jesus was on the cross, it says:   One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!” But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”    In the same way there will be some, perhaps some of those we know and love, who will or who have recognized Jesus in their final moments, even at their last breath, repenting and calling Him Lord, joining Him in paradise. We cannot presume though on the patience and the grace of God, or else why would Jesus say:  “one will be taken and one will be left”?

Jesus says:   “Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But if that evil slave says in his heart, ‘My master is not coming for a long time,’ and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards; the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”     We should live each day, overcoming the false teaching and the anarchy of our culture. We should live each day fulfilling the first and foremost commandment of the Lord. In Matthew 22:37-38 Jesus says:  “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment.”  We should also, not knowing the time He will return, live each day fulfilling the second commandment. Jesus says:  “The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

He is near, right at the door. Jesus says:  “I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne.”          “ One will be taken and one will be left.”   As Joshua said to the nation of Israel, in Joshua 24:14-15, I say:  Fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; (or the gods of this world) but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit; thank You for Your patience, Your love and Your grace. Thank You also for Your discipline by which You teach us right from wrong, evil from good and light from darkness. Thank You that by Your grace, through Your patience and love I have overcome, like the dying thief, I have overcome at the cross. By Your grace, through the indwelling Holy Spirit, may I live each day, loving You with all my heart, soul and mind and loving others as myself. May I live each day rejoicing in Your coming.  Amen.